Portable projection screen mounting



AWE 2% mm L. E. mmmv, am, m" m, fi fi PORTABLE; PROJECTION SCREEN MOUNTING Filed May 16, 1956 v 4 Sheets-Sheet 1L L. E. SR., ML.

PORTABLE PROJECTION SCREEN MOUNTING 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed. May 16, 1956 April 29, 1958 u... E. comma. SR. ET 1% 9 9 0 PORTABLE PROJECTION SCREEN MOUNTING l Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 16, 1956 R A R E L 0 O C E L PORTABLE PROJECTION SCREEN MOUNTING 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed May 16, 1956 m@ if w M [ea/g y, is

2,832,405 Patented Apr. 29, less ice Laurel E. Cooley, Six, and Laurel E. Cooley, J12, La Grange, and Carl 0. Plaul, Chicago, lit.

Application May 16, 1956,,Serial No. 585,285

4 Claims. (Cl. 160-24) in the present, conventional, portable projection screens 15 the screen housing is mounted on the supporting standard in such manner that in swinging the housing out of and into storage or transport position, parallel to the standard, the lower end of housing swings free of contact with one of the legs of the extended tripodal leg structure. in order to make this possible the screen-housing supporting fixture has to be so formed, and have the housing so 'swivelled thereon, as to dispose the housing in a plane closely parallel to the one leg which is on the side of the tip-swinging housing end. Thus, when the screen l10using is swung into its horizontal use position, and the screen is unreeled and extended up above the horizontall disposed housing the full distance permitted by the extension rod telescopically housed in the standard, the weight of the horizontal housing and extended screen is so unequally distributed, relative to the extended leg structure, that there is a great likelihood of the equipment tipping over if some undue contact is made therewith.

The main objects of this invention, therefore, are to provide an improved form of mounting of the screen housing on the suopo-rting standard which will permit the housing to be swung into and out of its storage position when the collapsible legs are in their extended positions for supporting the standard; to provide such an improved screen-housing support which insures greater stability of the screen housing and extended screen in use position relative to the leg structure; to provide an improved screen-housing mounting of this kind which will cause an automatic'or per it a manually-controlled angulation of the screen housing relative to the supporting st dard such as will retractth lower end of the housing out of the path of any of the extended legs as the housing is swung out of and into its sto position; and to provide an improved screen-housing mounting of this kind which is so simple in construction as to make its manufacture very economical and its use highly facile and practically void failure or the necessity of repair.

in the embodiment of this invention shown in the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is an elevational view of a portable projection creen, supported on its open leg structure, wherein th screen housing i rage s secured to the standard by one adaptanon of an improved mounting constructed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a front, eievational view of the screen per se in its extended, use position;

3 is a hori ontal view talten on the plane of the line 3-Il of Fig. l;

4- shows the sev creen of l in tlluls elationship;

Fig. 5 is top plan of the Pig. 6 is an en d, VClLCEtl, sectional detail of one adaptation of this 1 proved housing-screen mounting, 70 illustrating its attachment to a handle slidable on the supporting standard;

eral elements of the projection 5 volded storage and/or transport ernbly shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a transverse, sectional detail of the same taken on the plane of the line 7-4 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a vertical, elevational view taken on the plane of the line li-8 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 9 is an opposite view taken on the plane of the line 9--9 of Pig. 6;

F's. l0 s an enlarged, fragmentary, detail perspective i on t rplane of the line ltd-13 of Fig. 8; rigs. l1 and 12 are perspective views of two parts of one adaptation of this improved mounting;

Fig. 13 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional detail of a form of latch means for locking in position the extension postal the supporting standard;

14 is a transverse, sectional detail of the same as viewed from the plane of the line l i-lid of Fig. 13, the line ISM-13 being the plane of the view shown in Fig. 13;

Fig. 15 is an clevational view of another form of portable projection screen, wherein another adaptation of this improved mounting is used for securing the screen housing to the supporting standard;

Fig. 16 is atop plan view of the same;

Fig. 17 is an enlarged, vertical, sectional view of this other adaptation of the improved housing-screen mounting, illustrating its attachment to another form of handle slida ble on the supporting standard;

Fig. 18 is a transverse, sectional view of the same taken on the plane of the line 1S18 of Fig. 17;

Fig. 19 is a fragmentary, sectional detail taken on the plane of the line l9l9 of Fig. 17;

Fl 20 is another fragmentary detail taken on the plane of the line 29-42% of Fig. 17; and

Fig. 21 is a perspective view of on this modified form of mounting.

The essential concept of this invention involves a dualpivoted attachment of the screen housing to a foldableleg-supported standard whereby upon rotating the screen housing on one pivot, out of and into its normal storage position, it is automatically or manually angulated on the other pivot in a plane transverse to the plane of rotation about the first pivot so that the lower end of the screen housing transverses a double arc and avoids striking one end of the housing against a contiguously extended supporting leg, and thereby insures a mounting of the screen housing as will permit greater stability of the screen in extended use position.

A portable projection-screen mounting embodying the foregoing concept, designed for use with a leg supported standard 22 and the screen housing 23, comprises a bracs'et connection 24 pivoted on transverse axes 25 and 26 to swingably support the housing 23 on the standard 22?, (see Figs. 6 and 1'7).

The standard 22, its supporting leg structure 27, and operating handle 37 or 33, may be of conventional forms. The standard here is shown of hexagonal form and houses a telescopically-adjustable extension post 2% which is releasably latched at any desired elevation, within the limits of its length, by a conventional latch means 31. At its upper end the post 28 mounts a screcn-bail hool: j

The leg structure 27, also may be of any acceptable form embodying three legs 32 pivoted toan upper bracket 33 slidable on the standard 22 and connected by braces 34 to a lower bracket 36 fixed at the base of the standard 22. A preferred form of leg structure 27, and releasable latch mechanism for holding the legs in their folded positions, is disclosed in copending application Serial No. 585,217 filed May 16, 1956. Two forms of a handle 37 and 38, Whereto is attached the screen housing 23 by the improved bracket connection 24 presently to be described, are shown in the drawings. One form of such handle 37 is shown in Figs. 1 and 6 and the other form 38 is shown in Figs. 15 and 17. These handles are provided with suitable latch means to permit their releasablye of the parts of locked positioning on the standard 22 at any point between a stop 39 and the upper end of the standard 22. A preferred form of handle and handle-latch means is disclosed in copending application Serial No. 565,286 filed May 16, 1956. These handles 37 and 38 have secured thereto the respective plates 41 and 42, to which this improved bracket connection 24 is attached, as hereinafter will be pointed out more fully.

The screen housing 23 also may be of almost any desired form and/or material. It may be circular or noncircular in cross section. In Figs. 1 and 7 it shown to be hexagonal, whereas in Figs. 15 and 18 it is shown to be of circular form. A plate 43 is secured to the housing 23 midway of its ends whereto a part of the presently-to-be-described bracket connection 24 is attached.

Within the housing 23 is journaled a conventional spring-ratchet-controlled roller (see Fig. 18) whereon a screen 44 is reeled and unreeled as occasion requires. The free edge of the screen 44 is secured to a bail 46, medially of which is attached a grip 47.

A screen-housing mounting, embodying this improved form of dual-pivoted bracket connection 24 may be of varying forms. The purpose of the connection is to eifect a swinging of the housing 23 so as to avoid having the lower end of the housing strike the expanded leg strutcture 27 when the screen housing 23 is swung out of and into its storage position longitudinally parallel with the standard 22.

Two adaptations are shown in the accompanying drawings, one in Figs. 1-14 and the other in Figs. 1521. The essential difierence between these two adaptations is that in the former a cam mechanism is employed to make the transverse swinging or angulation of the housing 23 on the axis 26 automatic, whereas in the latter adapta tion the transverse swinging or angulation of the housing 23 is manually efiected by a conscious efiort of the operator. However, either form of bracket connection 24 is basically the same. Each involves the elements 48 and 49 (or 48 and 49'), the former of which is U-form and the two of which elements are hinged together on the axis 26 with the bracket element 48 (or 48) swivelled to the plate 41 (or 42) on the right-angularly disposed axis 24.

In each adaptation the axis 25, of the swivel connection to the standard 22, is normal to the plane of the standard and bisects the angle between two of the legs of the leg structure 27, as is indicated by the dot and dash line 81 shown in Fig. 3. The axis 26 is spaced from and disposed at right angles to the axis 25. Thus, in its normal storage position the screen housing 23 is longitudinally parallel to the standard 22. However, when the screen housing 23 is in its horizontally disposed position it is normal to a vertical plane through the third leg of the leg structure 27, as indicated by the dotted line 82 in Fig. 3. Such a disposition of the screen housing in use position is an essential objective of this invention. The screen housing being so positioned in use results in greater stability than obtains with the conventional screen mountings, where the in-use screen-housing is disposed parallel to one of the two legs between which the housing is swivelled to the standard.

The further detail character of these respective adaptations is as follows:

In the bracket connection 24, shown in Figs. 1l4, the element 48 is in the form of a casting which is recessed at 51 so that a portion thereof is of U-shape with parallel arms 52. Centrally of the face, which abuts the stand ard-plate 41, the bracket element 43 has a threaded hole 53 into which screws a supporting, headed-screw 54 on the axis 24. The screw 54 has a hub 55 which fits a hole 56 in the plate 41. A pin 57, on the bracket 48, extends Opposite the pin 57, the bracket element 48 is formed with an arcuate recess 59 concentric with the axis 24 and into which extends a cam 60 (see Fig. 10) formed on the plate 41 concentric with the axis 24. Parallel with the axis 24 but radially offset, the bracket element 48 is formed with a bore 61 (Fig. 9) extending between 0pposite faces of the element 48 in registration with the arcuate recess 59. Within this bore 61, inwardly of the face of the plate 41, is a ball 68 and cylinder 69 which are axially actuated by the cam 60 to effect the retraction of the screen-housing bracket element 49.

The bracket element 49 (see Fig. 11) here is shown as a sheet-metal stamping with a pair of axially-alined holes 62 at one end and a spring-receiving aperture 63 at the opposite end. This bracket 49 is hinged to the bracket crement 48 between the arms 52 by a pin 64 on the axis 26. This bracket element 49 is bonded to the screenhousing plate 43.

A pawl 65, in the form of a sheet-metal stamping (Fig. 12) formed with a hook 66 at one end and a pair of oppositely-disposed parallel lugs 67 at the other end, is seated in the bracket element 49 with the hook 66 embracing the pin 64 and the lugs 67 contacting the bracket element 49 above the aperture 63 (Fig. 6). The lower end of the pawl thus is disposed at the outer end of the bore 61 in the bracket element 48.

A spring 70 has one end hooked over the end of a pin 71 in the bracket recess 72 and the other end hooked in the bracket-element aperture 63. This spring 70 holds the housing plate 43 normally parallel with the standard presses the ball against the plate 41 and in contact with plate 41 and presses the ball against the plate 41 and in contact with the cam 60.

In the bracket connection 24, of the form shown in Figs. 15-2l, the element 48 is a sheet-metal stamping of U-form providing arms 52 and with opposite marginal portions of the base 73 struck out to form lugs 74 and 75 (Fig. 17). Centrally the base '13 has a hole through which extends a supporting, headed-screw 54' on the axis 24. The screw 54 has a hub 55 which fits a hole in the plate 42. A lock nut 76 secures the screw 54' to the element 48. The screw 54' has an extension 77 which serves as a stop for the inward swinging of the bracket 49' under the action of a spring 70'.

The bracket 42 is a sheet-metal stamping quite like, but of slightly reduced size, the element 48, as most clearly shown in Fig. 21. This bracket element 49 is formed with a pair of axially-alined holes 62 at one end and a spring-receiving aperture 63 at the other. The element 49' is hinged to the element 48 between the arms 52 on a pin 64. Spacers 78 (Fig. 19) are interposed between the arms 52 of the bracket element 48 and the bracket element 49' (see Fig. 19). This bracket element 49 is bonded to the screen-housing plate 43.

The spring 7'0 has one end hooked over the lug 75 and the other end hooked through the bracket-element aperture 63. The spring 70 holds the housing plate 43 parallel with, the standard plate 4.1, as determined by the screw extension 77.

A pin 7'9 on the rear of the base 73 of the bracket element 48' extends into a slot 80 formed in the standard plate 42 (see Fig. 20) for limiting the swinging of the housing 23 to degrees between its vertical and horizontal dispositions with relation to the standard 22.

The operation of a housing screen 23, secured to a standard 22 by this improved bracket connection 24, is as follows:

When the projection screen is set up preparatory to use, as shown in Figs. 1 and 15, it is quite obvious that upon swinging the screen housing 23 on a single axis transverse to the standard 22, as generally is the case with conventional equipment of this character, the lower end of the housing will strike one of the legs 32 (see Figs. 1, 3, and 15). On the conventional equipment, this is avoided by mounting the housing on the standard to swing in a plane parallel to one leg, or by elevating the housing 23 on the standard 22, or swinging the housing before extending the leg structure 27.

With this improved bracket connection 24, the swinging of the housing 23 on the pivot also results in a simultaneous angulation of the housing 23, on the axis 26, in a plane transverse to that in which the housing swings on the axis 25 (see Figs. 1 and 17).

In the bracket connection adaptation 24 shown in Figs. 1-14, this transverse angulation of the screen housing is efiected automatically by the action of the cam 6t) depressing the ball 68 and the cylinder 69 against the pawl 65 so as to swing the bracket element 49 on the pin 64 against the action of the spring 70. The initial portion of this transverse angulation of the housing 23 is effected with the beginning of the swing on the axis 25. Such angulation is completed just before the screen housing 23 reaches its horizontal disposition.

In the bracket connection adaptation 24 shown in Figs. 152l, the transverse angulation of the screen housing 23 is entirely under the conscious control of the operator. Following a slight turning of the screen housing 23, on the axis 25, the housing may be pulled to angulate it on the axis 26 and retain it in such angulated position only until the lower end of the housing 23 has passed the leg structure 27.

When the screen housing 23 is swung back from its horizontal-use disposition, the cam 60, on the one adaptation, effects an automatic angulation similar to but in reverse of what it did when the housing 23 was swung out of its vertical or storage position In the other adaptation, the angulation of the housing 23, to avoid the leg structure on this return to storage position, must be consciously efiected at the proper point as the housing end approaches the extended leg structure.

It is to be understood that details of the construction shown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims:

We claim:

1. A portable projection-screen mounting comprising, a supporting standard, a tripodal foldable leg structure secured to the standard, a screen housing, a pair of hinged bracket members one of which is swivelled to the standard on an axis transverse to the hinge axis and normal to the plane of the standard and substantially bisecting the angle between two legs of the tripodal leg structure, the other bracket member being fixed to the housing, and yielding means normally biasing the housing-supporting bracket-member to position the housing substantially parallel with the standard, whereby the housing is swingable simultaneously in transverse planes as it moves between its normal storage position longitudinally parallel with the standard and its horizontal use position normal to the vertical plane of the third leg of the tripodal leg structure.

2. A portable projection-screen mounting comprising, a supporting standard, a tripodal foldable leg structure secured to the standard, a screen housing, a pair of hinged bracket members one of which is swivelled to the standard on an axis transverse to the hinge axis and normal to the plane of the standard and substantially bisecting the angle between two legs of the tripodal leg structure, the other bracket member being fixed to the housing, yielding means normally biasing the housing-supporting bracket-member to position the housing substantially parallel with the standard, and interacting cam means on the bracket members adapted to effect a relative move ment of the members on their hinge, whereby a manual swinging of the housing on its standard swivel results in an automatic swinging of the housing in a transverse plane as the housing moves between its normal storage position longitudinally parallel with the standard and its horizontal use position normal to the vertical plane of the third leg of the tripodal leg structure.

3. A portable projection-screen mounting comprising, a supporting standard, atripodal foldable leg structure secured to the standard, a screen housing, a plate fixed to the standard, a second plate fixed to the housing, a U-shaped bracket member swivelled to the standard plate on an axis normal to the plane of the standard and substantially bisecting the angle between two legs of the tripodal leg structure, a second bracket member hinged within the parallel parts of the U-shaped bracket mem her on an axis spaced from and at right angles to the swivel axis, and a spring normally biasing the second bracket member to position the housing substantially parallel with the housing, whereby the housing is swingable simultaneously in transverse planes as it moves between its normal storage position longitudinally parallel with the standard and its horizontal use position normal to the vertical plane of the third leg of the tripodal leg structure. i

4. A portable projection-screen mounting comprising, a supporting standard, a tripodal foldable leg structure secured to the standard, a screen housing, a plate fixed to the standard, a second plate fixed to the housing, a U-shaped bracket member swivelled to the standard plate on an axis normal to the plane of the standard and substantially bisecting the angle between two legs of the tripodal leg structure, a second bracket member hinged within the parallel parts of the U-shaped bracket member on an axis spaced from and at right angles to the swivel axis, a cam formed on the standard plate concentrically of the swivel connection of the U-shaped bracket member thereto, the standard bracket member having a slot arranged therein concentrically of the swivel and receptive of the cam, a shiftable bearing interposed between the housing bracket member and the cam, and a spring normally biasing the second bracket member to position the housing substantially parallel. with the housing, whereby the housing is swingable simultaneously in transverse planes as it moves between its normal storage position longitudinally parallel with the standard and its horizontal use position normal to the vertical plane of the third leg of the tripodal leg structure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

